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Now that you are finished what do you think?

I...actually thought it was very good.
I thought Tess was a very likable strong female character.
Alec seemed very true to men of the times - looking to save a damsel in distress and protect her.
And the titanic was just a great atmosphere through out the whole book.

I really liked it!

Trisha wrote: "Tess was a very likable strong female character

I would agree that Tess was likable and definitely strong for the time.

Unfortunately, I can't say I liked it. I didn't really hate it either though. More "meh" about it.

I enjoyed reading the book but I can't say I really liked it. I don't think it's a book that will last and be read 10 years from now - maybe not even 5 years. There's not a lot of substance. I wonder if it would even have the amount of detail it has about life on board the Titanic if it weren't for Cameron's film. It seems to borrow a lot from that - or relies on the readers having seen the film.

I suppose I'm in the minority but I didn't like Tess as a main character. She kept on whining about her lower social class and harping on how she would be beautiful if only she had the finery to go with her lovely face. She was just so vain, and although I understand that social class was a large part of how you were treated and expected to behave, she just kept on talking about it as if she expected to be treated like royalty. I also agree with Grace that there could have been so much more about the Titanic itself. It seems as if the story was on the Titanic simply to add the drama of the boat sinking, not because the Titanic itself was particularly important to the story.

I did like the minor characters - Myriam and Isabel, especially. They in my mind were stronger characters than Tess.

I felt like the ending was a major cop-out. Of course the perfect love-interest would survive against all odds... (that's a personal pet-peeve of mine. I hate when "dead" people magically come back to life)

I didn't love the book... but I did like reading a book that takes place on the Titanic. How fun. Ok not fun for people on the Titanic but a nice change of pace for books I read. I have to agree about the movie Titanic. I did kinda start to feel that way. The love of a third class passenger and a first class passenger. I do wish there had been more detail about the Titanic. I did rely on my memory of the movie to see the details around the ship.

What was the odd birth control that Tess knew about? She kept saying she and Alec knew how to be safe... which in 1912 was what? I did enjoy the werewolves in this book. I typically don't like werewolf books but this one did a pretty good job here I thought. The secret society of the Bortherhood was cool to me too. I thought the villain was perfect. Though I do wish we could've known more back story on the Brotherhood. I thought we were going to find out more by the end of the book but we didn't.

I too didn't love that the couple got to live happily ever after.. but there was no way the author was going to let Alec die. I just knew it.

I did like reading from Tess' point of view. I can totally imagine people treating the help like that. I love reading the information at the end when the author used a little of Upstairs Downstairs. I love that show. And Downton Abbey too of course. I think the problem with Tess is that she is a modern woman character who's placed into a 1912 novel. I just don't think that's how women would've acted.

Did the Titanic sink way too fast in the book to anyone else?

Also... this quote from Claudia Gray about the music she used for writing the book

"The one book I haven’t touched on in the above is FATEFUL � by far the hardest to assemble a score for. I mean, the movie score was kind of obvious (thanks, James Horner!), but I had to find the songs that Alec and Tess would have been listening to and enjoying. I.e., I had to find popular songs from 1912 in recordings that I could listen to the several dozen times I would hear them while writing. So what was hip in 1912? George M. Cohan, for one � and I did listen to “Give My Regards To Broadway,� which would have been the hottest thing going around them. “I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now,� “I Want A Girl Just Like The Girl Who Married Dear Old Dad� � it is harder to find zippy versions of these, to say the least. But one I found that I adored was “The Glow Worm,� covered by Count Basie, with lyrics obviously celebrating the days when electric power was still shiny and new.

One happy fact: the popular songs of that era included a lot of tunes about the moon. “Shine On Harvest Moon,� “By The Light Of The Silvery Moon� � what works better for a book about werewolves? "

Angie wrote: "What was the odd birth control that Tess knew about? "

Totally agreed! Rubber condoms were around then (Wikipedia says they were created in 1855), but how would she possibly know how to get one? Did she carry it around with her just in case?

Did the Titanic sink way too fast in the book to anyone else?

It couldn't sink fast enough for me. I was sort of bored by that part. But I also attributed it to the fact that Tessa got embroiled in the drama of others while the ship was sinking which probably took up more time than she would realize.

Kritika wrote: "I did like the minor characters - Myriam and Isabel, especially..."

I really liked Myriam, but for the life of me, I can't even place Isabel.

But you do bring up a good point about Tessa. She was sort of whiny. And the Alec coming back to life part was pretty horrible. It sort of made sense with the werewolves, but why would they have woken up at that exact moment? It would have taken Tessa quite some time to get to Halifax, so it really didn't make sense. I'm not as bothered about Alec rising from death as I am bothered that they managed to find each other at just the right moment.

Angie wrote: "What was the odd birth control that Tess knew about? "

I suspect it was withdrawal - which is essentially no birth control at all. However, that was the method that many people relied on - up until the pill was developed, at least. All other forms of birth control were hard to acquire since they were illegal until about the 60s, I think.

Grace wrote: "Angie wrote: "What was the odd birth control that Tess knew about? "

I suspect it was withdrawal - which is essentially no birth control at all. However, that was the method that many people relie..."

I did think that this is what they did, because it's the only think I could think of. The only other BC I know of is herbs people tried to take but I am pretty sure they didn't have any of those on the ship.

Alexis wrote: ""My Heart will Go On" by Celine Dion was stuck in my head. Not a horrible way to end a book..."

LOL! I had that song stuck in my head too. Too bad I loathe that song ;)